(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, and a computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
An on-demand print system enables a user to output print jobs, which are accumulated in a print service (server), from any image forming apparatus registered with the print service. A user transmits print jobs to a print service and registers them. Then, the user selects print jobs in the print service from an operation screen of an image forming apparatus at which printing is to be performed, and provides an instruction to perform printing.
Heretofore, to configure an on-demand print system, it has been necessary for a user or a system administrator to associate, in advance, a print service with all of the image forming apparatuses which may be used by the user. In addition, a typical print service has been installed in a user site, such as a company or a school, and registration of image forming apparatuses and output of print jobs have been performed only within the user site.
On the other hand, like Google Cloud Print which Google Inc. has been developing, a print service available on the Internet (hereinafter, referred to as a “cloud print service” to be distinguished from a typical print service) has been recently provided or proposed.
Typically, in a cloud print service such as Google Cloud Print, printers which may be used by a user are registered with the print service in advance, and the user selects a printout destination among these printers registered in advance. It is not basically assumed that a printer that has not been identified in advance (e.g., a printer installed at a convenience store which the user passes by on the business trip) is used. However, in a cloud print service, all of the image forming apparatuses which are connected to the Internet may be potential candidates for an output destination. Accordingly, to make it possible to use a printer that has not been identified in advance will increase convenience.
To achieve this, for example, it is necessary for an administrator to register in advance all of the image forming apparatuses that may be used, with a print service. However, this is practically impossible. In addition, in Google Cloud Print, since an access right to an image forming apparatus is set for each user, settings, the number of which is equal to the result obtained by multiplying the number of users by the number of image forming apparatuses, are required to be performed. It is not practical to perform these settings in advance.